


Iymrith

by Bacner



Category: Primeval
Genre: ARC (Primeval), Africa, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anomaly Research Center (Primeval), Cretaceous, Dinosaurs, F/M, Gen, Impossible Pictures, Pliocene, Time Anomalies, Time Travel, spinosaurus - Freeform, time anomalies detection device, time anomalies manifestation device
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27879582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bacner/pseuds/Bacner
Summary: Post episode 4x01 AU: when Connor Temple fed a time anomaly manifester device to a Spinosaurus, he unleashed a new nightmare on the world that just might not be stopped...
Relationships: Connor Temple/Abby Maitland, Danny Quinn & Helen Cutter, Danny Quinn & Helen Cutter & Jenny Lewis, Danny Quinn & Jenny Lewis
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [joli_camarillo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/joli_camarillo/gifts), [kellicohn23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellicohn23/gifts).



> Disclaimer: almost all of characters belong to Impossible Pictures, but some of them are mine...

The once-shiny, now-dingy rectangular device slowly fell.

It fell almost frivolously, spinning around like a snowflake, into the eager and snapping jaws of the spinosaurus.

Abruptly, the long, crocodile-like jaws snapped shut, carrying the futuristic machine into oblivion of digestive juices. The next moment, however, it was the dinosaur that was carried into the oblivion as the time anomaly manifested with it in its centre, changing the spinosaurus from a flesh-and-blood creature into something else.

From that combination, of prehistoric physical prowess and of exquisite futuristic technology, a new nightmare was born.

_To be continued..._


	2. Breaking the Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: see part one

June 6, 3.2 MYA B.C.

It was business as usual for Helen Cutter. Create a head-turning plot that has just a small window of opportunity to be derailed, then sit back and observe how your opposition fails. Case right now – one Danny Quinn, formerly a detective-constable of Her Majesty's government, now a field agent of the ARC...still of Her Majesty's government. A capable, intelligent man in his own field, he was completely lost out here in the wilds, aka Helen Cutter's own turf, as she beheld him from her lofty perch from above.

A certain sound from behind caught Helen's attention. Pulling out of her knives, she whirled around, only to be faced with one of the Late Cretaceous' raptors, who was lying very low on the ground, hiding, rather than stalking. The fact that the raptor was facing – or rather eyeing – not Helen but something else at a distance unseen even by Helen's trained eyes (without the help of binoculars) was only adding further proof to the case.

But what could frighten a chronologically-displaced raptor in the late Pliocene? Something that could kill a chronologically-displaced human from the Holocene, that's what. And since Helen nowadays had _ideas_ about people dying, well...

With a trained notion, Helen reached down into her bag and produced a lasso – a souvenir when she was stupid enough to follow a time anomaly into the Hun-besieged city of Constantinople. Hoping that the length was enough, she arched hand and threw it. As expected the lasso fell was short of Danny, but it caught his attention all the same, and he began to scale the rock face with grim determination.

As Helen stared thoughtfully at him, she heard the raptor whine. Never before (and she had run into them previously) did Helen hear a raptor whine so piteously and so scared: pound for pound, a pack of them could stand up to anything short of an adult T-Rex, and in this case it wasn't a T-Rex that was coming.

Helen thought quickly. Did she care for Danny Quinn? No. Did she want to see his death in her dreams? Even less so. Therefore, she took a deep breath and threw the lasso again. Since Danny Quinn was now considerably closer to her now, he was able to catch the lasso now, and then-

It arrived in a chromatically white light of a time anomaly, but the angles were all wrong, lightning-shaped zigzags, not the more angular and blocky shapes. It manifested right above the corpses of the australopithecines, and then there was a flash of electricity, a stench of meat both cooked and raw, the sound of flesh and bones reshaping each other into new, different forms. And then it was over. A brand new creature stood where australopithecine corpses used to lie, and it was _alive_.

"Holy mother! It's a dinosauroid of Connor's!" Danny exclaimed, and then he looked harder. "Or not. Connor's model had more of a beak, was somewhat smaller, I think, and it didn't have that ridge on the back..."

"You are," the 'dinosauroid' spoke ignoring Danny's proclamation. "Danny Quinn. You're irrelevant and potentially harmful. _You_ ," the dinosauroid's shape blurred, and suddenly it was on the top, rather than on the bottom, of the bluff, "are Helen Cutter, and a potential ally."

"Perhaps," Helen said, supposedly unaware that she was still holding the lasso with Danny Quinn attached to the other end, "and who are you?"

"My name," the creature said, its mouthful of rather reptilian, wicked-looking teeth, "is Iymrith."

"That would be a Mr. or a Ms.?"

"Just Iymrith," one could almost hear the smugness in the creature's voice. "I think I've become a hermaphrodite in the process."

"Ah, and what progress is that?" Helen's face could've been carved from rock by wind and water. "I'm guessing that your... birth wasn't planned?"

"No," the creature – Iymrith – still had that disturbingly dreamy tone of voice. "I used to be just a beast – _Spinosaurus aegipticus_ your kind used to call me – when there was light. It came from inside me and illuminated my mind, bringing me forth into what was, and is, and will be. I can travel through time, I have intelligence, I have a name – Iymrith, and, I know that you want to kill off the rest of humanity. I do too. We can be allies."

"I see," Helen nodded, her poker face still in position. "Wait a second, please, there's something I need to do first." With these words – and still holding onto the lasso – she walked over to the rocks, where the raptor was hiding. Being just an animal, it could clearly sense the wrongness that accompanied Iymrith's being, and the close proximity didn't help any. As such, it didn't resist, when Helen thrust her end of the lasso into its mouth, and then savagely yanked it by the tail.

Even a very scared raptor tends to leap when it's being yanked by the tail, and that was exactly what it did – it leapt up into the air, its jaws still snapped shut on the end of the lasso. And since Helen was there as well, pulling on the lasso, this resulted in Danny being catapulted over the edge of the bluff and onto the solid, albeit higher ground.

"Why did you do that?" something like uncertainty or confusion appeared in Iymrith's voice.

"Eh, that's not important right now," Helen shrugged, dismissing Danny, even as the man was lying on the ground, wheezing from the sudden pain in his hands and arms. "So, why do you want to work with me?"

"Separately, we're strong. Together, we're stronger. Together, we'll make sure that humanity will never exist!" Iymrith spoke in its sing-song voice again, swinging its arms around in a dramatic, sweeping gesture. "Isn't that your wish?"

"Well! Aren't I the lucky one!" Helen said wryly... as she pulled out her blade. "Out of your curiosity, what would happen if I were to decline your generous and reasonable offer?"

Abruptly Iymrith's stance shifted and it looked at Helen with its dark, reptilian eyes. "You're too dangerous if we're not aligned. Join me now, or be destroyed!"

"It's tempting and reasonable," Helen nodded, "but after the events with Oliver Leek I have permanently decided to work solo, alone, so I will respectfully and regretfully have to decline your offer. Please leave and go seek assistance elsewhere."

"That's a wrong answer," Iymrith's voice was grim and humourless now. "You're too knowledgeable. Your ideas are too valuable. I will keep your head and retrieve your ideas from it."

Helen didn't reply, and then – from what Danny could see from his prone position on the ground, Iymrith swung one of its forelimbs, and then, Helen was down on one knee... with her knife sticking out of Iymrith's wrist.

Iymrith's already big eyes widened further, and it swung the other forelimb at Helen. There was an odd sound, and three of Iymrith's talons fell off, cleanly cut off by the kukri that appeared in Helen's other hand. There was also a smell in the air, tangy and rank and somehow familiar to Danny, but that wasn't important, he couldn't just lie there like a piece of meat, he had to get involved-

"You hurt me," Iymrith's voice was now clearly incredulous. "I'm stronger, bigger and faster than you! How could you hurt me?"

"You're not yet sufficiently big, fast and strong to defeat me cleanly," Helen shrugged. "Maybe you should train some, become even faster, stronger and smarter than now to defeat me as easily as you want."

"Yes, I will do that," Iymrith agreed, as its arm slid off Helen's other knife without any apparent pain. "And when I'll be done, you will regret not joining me." With a flash of chromatically white light Iymrith was gone.

"Now," Danny said slowly, "can you explain to me what has happened?"

Helen carefully sheathed her blades, turned to face Danny, and... for the first time since Danny had met her, broke down into honest to goodness hysterics.

For several moments Danny just stared mutely at Helen – if anything else, he did not expect feminine hysterics: this was part of his police training that he had always failed at...so he did the first thing that he thought off – he gave Helen a good strong hug, hoping that it was strong enough to prevent her from stabbing him, if it was a plan of her plot.

"There, there, it will all be okay?" he tried to sound more re-assuring than confused. "Really."

"You have no idea what that thing is?" Helen looked more like her old self by now. "Or are you being purposefully obtuse?"

"Well, I know that it calls itself Iymrith, and that it's supposed a hermaphrodite. I was right here, you know, right alongside with you... sorry if I wasn't of any help back then, I guess."

"Mr. Quinn," Helen spoke in a voice that rather reminded Danny of his teacher back in his childhood when he would answer her completely wrong. "Weren't you listening? This is a time anomaly with the moral values of a carnivorous dinosaur at best clad in a physical body of borrowed, dead flesh!"

Danny blinked, and carefully stepped away from her. "Now, I know," he began, but Helen interrupted him once again.

"I know that you don't trust me," she said bitterly, "but how's for some _physical_ evidence? Like that?" she pointed behind Danny and to his left.

Carefully, sidling away from her (the whole situation was becoming horribly wrong) Danny turned to face in that direction. Sure enough, the talons that Helen had been able to cut away from Iymrith were lying there. The raptor was there as well, standing a respectable distance away from them and not looking very happy, even for a raptor.

"Okay," said Danny, keeping a wary eye on both the raptor and Helen. "They seem to be-" his voice trailed away as he saw that on the inside the three talons seemed to be composed of some sort of spongy, monotonous flesh, very clearly nothing like what Danny had ever seen on any autopsy, either in the police's morgue or in the labs of the ARC.

For a long while there was just silence, until Danny broke it once again. "This is not normal flesh, not at all. I'm still not ready to believe whatever you were saying completely, but... you do have a point. How do we stop it?"

"We get out of this time period," Helen shrugged. "Since I've seem to have lost my manifestation device, we'll have to take the long route home."

"Good," Danny said with relief. He couldn't wait to rejoin Abby and Connor. "After all, there's still the matter of the raptor..."

"Yes," Helen nodded, as she turned to leave...in a completely opposite direction from which Danny had come from.

"The time anomaly's this way," he said flatly, grabbing her by the arm.

"Oh?" was all that Helen said and the two people stared silently at each other.

_To be continued..._


	3. Deep down in Africa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: almost all of main characters belong to Impossible Pictures.

June 6, 3.2 MYA B.C.

For a few moments there was just silence, until Danny broke it, by pulling out binoculars out of his backpack and beginning to scout the neighbourhood.

"Well, it had been supposed to be over there," he muttered, as he tried to find his way home in vain. "But now... it's gone, isn't it?"

"Very likely so," Helen said, as she checked her backpack for her missing time anomaly manifestation device, but it was clearly gone. "The odds are certainly against you."

Something in Helen's voice just stung. "What do you mean by that?' Danny insisted. "What, you can time them or something?"

"A bit of both," Helen's reply didn't make any sense. "Basically, since _I_ had opened the time anomaly, it would be opened only for a short amount of time – much shorter than if it had opened naturally, so to speak."

"That...makes sense," Danny admitted, reluctantly. "Of course, you may be lying..."

"Yes, but since you don't have a chance to check it, you'll have to take some sort of a risk now," Helen shrugged, apparently unconcerned by Danny's suspicions. "At any rate, I'll be going now."

"Where to?" Danny asked, incredulous. "You don't have your time anomaly manifestation device, now do you?"

"No, but in this particular instance I don't have to, hopefully," Helen calmly replied.

"Why not?"

"Because! And don't ask me to explain either, because we just might jinx it instead," Helen shrugged. "Let's just say that I have made provisions for just such an emergency, and leave it at that."

"And you expect me to believe that you had the foresight to include someone like me in such an emergency?" Danny spoke, incredulously.

"Nope, I told that you'll have to take some sort of a risk now," Helen shrugged, clearly unconcerned. "What you'll do now is your call."

"You're utterly insane," Danny said flatly, as he – reluctantly – began to follow Helen down the other side of the bluff. "You know that?"

"Yes," Helen's voice once again turned both serious and quite, quite human. "I've been aware of that since Stephen died. But honestly, what else is there left?"

"Well, what do you have?" Danny said, now really wishing that he had taken more attention at those negotiating classes that he had always skimmed through.

"My freedom," Helen said calmly. "My respect, my dignity, my _self_ , in short."

"You're still crazy, and that's the trouble with being selfish – you only have room for one! That's what Connor used to say," Danny said, as Helen turned around sharply and he prepared for a fight.

"Really? Where does he get those lines? From a cartoon, perhaps?" Judging from the redness of Helen's cheeks and the tone of her voice, that last remark had _stung_. "Well, the next time you see him, please feel free to tell him that _I_ consider him to be merely a sycophant of the late Cutter, who now has to learn to stand on his own and earn his own big boy pants."

"That's harsh," Danny said, wincing. "And Connor wasn't talking about you."

"Oh? About whom, then?" Helen wasn't buying it.

"Fine, we were talking about you," Danny admitted, "happy now?"

"What do you think?" Helen replied, and continued to walk down the bluff.

Silently, Danny followed her.

For some time – Danny had lost his watch a while ago, back in the modern era – the two of them walked in silence, only occasionally stopping to look at something or other, like a flock of the weaver birds, grazing rhinos or deinotheres, or anything else in general. As they walked, a thought began to form in Danny's mind, or rather, a series of them.

Item One: The view here was a very pristine and grand.

Item Two: There are no people here – aside from the two of them – whatsoever. Their ape-like ancestors didn't count, and as a matter of fact they hadn't seen any lately.

Item Three: Humans, apparently, are social creatures, and for all of his insurmountable differences with Helen Cutter, if he would keep quiet for much longer, he'd burst.

"So," Danny finally spoke the first thing that came to his mind, "do you feel like we've forgotten something?"

"Not sure," Helen shrugged, as her hands slipped down to her knives once again. "Care to elaborate?"

"I'm not sure myself," Danny admitted, as he discreetly skimmed over their rough surroundings, "but I'm sure it'll come to me later. So... the lasso. Where'd you learn to use it?"

"You're a real conversationist, you know that?" Helen wryly replied. "Anyways, I picked up the lasso in the past – I mean, my previous travels. Still, it would've never worked if it wasn't for that raptor-"

At the mention of the raptor, both people abruptly stopped. "The raptor," Danny said with a sinking voice. "What raptor? They're all extinct by now, aren't they?"

"One of them must've followed you here through that time anomaly," Helen sighed. "Got to stalking me, when Iymrith arrived and everything fell apart."

"Not for me – I never had anything planned," Danny said, almost proudly.

"Lucky you," Helen said flatly. "Anyways, once I recover one of the manifestation devices, I'll be able to eventually deal with this problem as well."

"Excuse me? _You_ 'll deal with this problem?" Danny said, incredulously. "What makes you think that we'll let you?"

"Well, who else is left to deal with it? _You_?" Helen sounded just as incredulous. "Oh yes, Danny Quinn, the great tracker, couldn't even find _me_ – how exactly do you expect find an actual wild animal out here? You think that the Cutter's little sycophant would be any help to you in this case?"

"Connor's not little," Danny ground.

"Compared to you he is," Helen said absent-mindedly, "now hush; I hear something..." she quietly peered around a bend. "That's not good..."

"What's not good?" Danny couldn't help himself, as he peered around the bend himself. "What the-?"

"Giant prehistoric baboons," Helen sighed as the two of them observed the huge hairy primates browse around the path where it turned from highland to lowland and from rocky cliffs to grassy savannah. "Bet you that Cutter's little stooge never talked about something like that, did he?"

"Connor's not little, or a stooge!" Danny said, flatly, "but yes, these are new. What are they?"

"Giant prehistoric baboons," Helen said flatly. "Fortunately, they're plant-eaters, rather like cattle-"

"Yeah, well tell it to a matador," Danny snapped. "Besides, I'm guessing they won't just try to scare us with chest-beating and hollering?"

"No, you're thinking about the gorillas," Helen said flatly. "These are baboons. They are going to bite almost straightaway, and they're in our path..."

From above came a strange, hissing sound. "Oh no," Helen could only gasp, before the chronologically-displaced raptor just launched itself from its high ground onto one of the baboons, knocking it prone, and biting the giant monkey in the neck with its toothy jaws.

The rest of the baboon pack erupted into a cacophony of hooting sounds and one of the animals – probably a subordinate male - promptly charged at the attacker, baring its fangs in a clearly attacking gesture.

The raptor (who by then had recovered its footing stood upright once again), kicked out with one of its taloned feet. For the first time in his life Danny was able to appreciate the deadly power of the raptor, as one of its trademark talons penetrated deep into the side of the giant baboon's neck, dropping the mammal in its tracks. That shifted the balance in the favour of the raptor, as the rest of the primates stopped hollering and fled, leaving the dinosaur with its hard-won prize.

Danny blinked. The confrontation was over almost as quickly as Helen's fight with Iymrith had been. "That's not quite what I expected from a raptor," he admitted quietly. "I thought that just like in a movie the big claws were slashing, not stabbing."

"If you say so," Helen shrugged as she moved from out of the bend and began to circle the now-feeding dinosaur by a wide loop. "Now let's go before some new local characters would arrive."

"Isn't it going to attack?" Danny muttered, as he pointed to the raptor.

"It can go either way, but if we don't come close – fortunately, we don't need to – we're relatively safe from it," Helen shrugged, as she put her backpack down and pulled out a small entrenching tool.

"What are you doing?" Danny repeated again. "And why are we safe?"

"We're not," Helen said flatly. "And I need to dig something out, isn't it obvious."

Danny blinked. "And now the full version, please?" he grated, trying to keep a lid on his temper.

"The carnivores of any species," Helen began to explain even as she dug in the rocky ground, "once they kill anything, they have to eat it up quickly before other carnivores and scavengers appear to steal it away."

"Other carnivores?" Danny repeated, not liking the sound of that.

"Yup," Helen nodded solemnly, as she jabbed her finger at the sky. "The vultures are here already, this means that jackals, hyenas, lions, sabre-tooth cats, our ancestors, aren't far behind."

Danny carefully ran that sentence again. "Our ancestors? The ones you've killed?"

"Well, not _those_ , obviously," Helen rolled her eyes. "Somehow I think that a group of zombie australopithecines would've been noticed by now. But yes, our ancestors were scavengers, just as the vultures and the hyenas and other local animals. Want to see them?"

Danny gave Helen a good hard look, which she took-on without flinching. "No," he finally said, seeing that Helen's poker face wasn't about to crack. "Not this time – maybe later, when Connor and others will finally crack that time anomaly device of yours."

"Suit yourself," Helen shrugged, as she pulled out a small metal box from out of the hole. "And perhaps it will be sooner then we think." She opened the box and produced... a time anomaly manifestation device.

"Give me that!" Danny growled, briefly forgetting about the raptor and was abruptly reminded by it as the raptor growled back, and its growl was much more intimidating.

"No." Unlike the raptor (and Danny), Helen didn't growl, but of the two, Danny would've rather chosen the raptor at the moment: at least the dinosaur's eyes were somehow more alive, or at least livelier than Helen's, who looked as if she was measuring Danny for a casket; the army-issue shovel didn't make it any easier either. "You want it? Come and take it!"

For several moments the two of them just stared down at each other, ignoring the growling raptor, until Danny finally yielded. "Fine," he said slowly, "you keep for now."

"Thank you," Helen looked anything but grateful, as she folded the entrenching tool and put into her backpack in one fluid modern. "Modern world, here we come!"

A time anomaly manifested itself, and Danny and Helen followed through it, leaving the Pliocene Africa behind them.

_To be continued..._


	4. Strangers in a strange land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: almost none of characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures.

December 23, the current year

After the heat and vividness of Africa, English winter was cold and grey...but nowhere as cold and grey as Danny knew that it was supposed to be. "What gives?" he asked, slowly. "This isn't our time, this is the future!"

"Oh? And what do you know about the future?" Helen asked quietly, as she looked around, her body tensed for fighting or fleeing. "Oh, yes, you've been there before."

"More than that – we went there before you killed that Johnson woman," Danny said, almost smugly. "We had to rescue Abby's brother, you know, and since then-" he paused. "I would've said that it didn't change at all, but it had. The buildings are in even worse state than they were before, and the landscape – it isn't all hills and ravines, it's normal!"

"You forgot to add that there are no large animals, other than insects," Helen said, still quietly. "Well, slugs and spiders also, I suppose."

"Well, there's the raptor... wait, the raptor?" Danny said, slowly. "Wasn't it back in Africa?"

Silently, the two people stared at the raptor, which actually looked somewhat sheepish as it stood before the time anomaly as it closed.

"Raptors of all the species," Helen said wearily, "were social or eusocial creatures – I tend to confuse the terms. Anyways, I think we were the only familiar features back in Africa, and once we went here, the raptor decided to follow. Well, let's see if I can send it back to the Cretaceous-"

The raptor made a whining sound that reminded Danny of a stray dog that one of his co-workers had adopted in the past. "Maybe it should come with us," he said, feeling somewhat ridiculous. "I think that it wants to."

Helen stared at Danny for a good long time. "You're thinking of keeping it, don't you?"

"Maybe," Danny admitted. "I mean, we already have a mammoth at the ARC, and a dinosaur, and I'm not even going to talk about Abby and Connor's mini-menagerie..."

"Not anymore," Helen said slowly, "it's all gone – they're all gone, alongside with the ARC and the rest of the society – see?"

"Yes," Danny replied, quietly once again, "I do. It looks like your dream has been fulfilled, Helen?"

"No," Helen said flatly. "I wanted the humanity to be destroyed – not the entire animal kingdom... well, all of the backboned animals..."

"Say what?" Danny blinked.

"Didn't we go over this before?" Helen said crossly. "Oh yes – you were distracted by the raptor, silly me. I've seen such places before, in the far-off future – they happened after mass outbreaks of what I like to call 'the grey death'."

"Pardon? Are you talking about a virus?" Danny blinked. It _had_ _been_ ARC's great fortune that no futuristic or prehistoric diseases had come through a time anomaly, but this could've changed...

"No, not quite," Helen admitted. "I'm talking about... I mean, there is, or rather – there will be a slime mould in the future, very toxic, very violent-"

"It takes over people and remakes them into its image – sort of?" Danny interrupted. "I – we – saw it before, it took over two people and we managed to kill it with cold. It almost got Jenny, too."

Helen abruptly stopped and gave Danny a look. "And what then? Did you treat the affected areas with acid, or caustics, or fungicides?"

"No, we should've?" Danny said, suspiciously.

"Yes. Just like its' relatives, the grey death is _very_ hard to get rid of," Helen nodded, dead serious, "and if Iymrith had learned about it, well..." she trailed off.

"You think so?" Danny said, trying to remember something important (and not involving their tag-along raptor). "You know, I remember her saying that she's got an energy body or something..."

"She does," Helen agreed, easily. "Well, it's part energy and part dead australopithecine flesh, technically."

"And whose fault is that?" Danny said sharply.

"My bet's on Connor Temple," Helen said nonchalantly. "He has this sort of attitude that would result in creating something like that."

"I was talking about our ancestors," Danny said crossly.

"Ah. Them. Yes, I killed them in a vain attempt to kill off our species and change the world," Helen said nonchalantly. "Is it what you wanted to hear?"

Danny stopped abruptly and looked Helen straight in the eye. "You're lying here somewhere, Helen," he said firmly. "What you've been doing before isn't compatible with what you're doing now. Why haven't you joined this thing when it offered?"

"You were there, you heard it," Helen's face was once more unreadable, stone-like.

"Yeah, and that's bull," Danny said flatly. "When you want something, you don't care about semantics, you go and get it, come Hell or high water. Christine Johnson was in your path – you steam-rolled all over her-"

"What I _wanted_ was Stephen, but he loved Nick – big surprise," Helen snorted bitterly. "Nick deserved – he was big, solid, reliable, a rock to which to answer, a great husband and breadwinner. I was insane to leave him, and never go back, and never regret it, so don't waste your time analysing me. Some people are just born wrong, and if they're lucky, they find a time anomaly and never return from wherever they came from."

"You're wrong," Danny shook his head. "You're not insane – you're arrogant."

"I prefer the term megalomaniac," Helen was unshaken. "And that megalomania got deflated _hard_ when I was unable to save Stephen!"

"And so instead you killed Nick Cutter?" Danny barked. "People don't kill people without a reason."

"And I'm not going to share it with you," Helen abruptly turned away from Danny. "Mr. Quinn, do what you will, I'm going in." She opened the doorway to the building (that remained preserved better compared to the others) and went in.

For several moments Danny (alongside the raptor) just stared at her retreating back, thinking if he should stay there, when he remembered about the time anomaly manifestation device – Helen still had it. Cursing loudly, he followed Helen inside, followed, in turn, by the raptor.

Contrary to Danny's belief, Helen didn't go far, but stopped abruptly in a round, familiar-looking room. "I know this place," Danny gasped (he had ran into Helen and got out of breath by accident). "That's the ARC main computer hall-!"

"It was, probably," Helen agreed easily, having seemingly forgotten about their recent argument. "But _now_ , I bet you half a pound, it's not. Iymrith! I know you're around here somewhere! Show yourself!"

"I'm here," a semi-familiar voice replied, startling Danny. "Hello again, Helen Cutter. Why are you still with them?" Iymrith pointed at Danny and the raptor, which whined, and tried to hide behind them.

"Why not? Having some company around is a pleasant change of scenery," Helen shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyways, I'm impressed with your results – I knew that you would be able to succeed on your own, especially using the grey death fungus: it is very hard to transport, even if you are just energy and dead flesh."

"That is correct," somehow Iymrith's voice was both smug and emotionless at the same time. "It cannot survive time travel without a host, and my energies are beyond even its endurance. But there was a woman, Jenny Lewis, who bore the fungus's remnants in her flesh and blood. I came to her and gave her a touch and my energies re-awoke the fungi in her and it came forth in a grey and black tide of cleansing! My humiliation as a mere beast was avenged! Humanity is gone!"

"Well, I still remain, and so does Helen," Danny spoke, looking incredulously at Iymrith. The dinosauroid was still the same – taloned hands and feet, crocodile-like teeth in its mouth and black, emotionless and pupil-less eyes in its face, but now it was dressed in actual human clothing that was dyed _purple_ of all colours. Clearly, Iymrith was either colour-blinded or had no taste in clothing _at all_. "Guess you've missed us, eh?"

"I know not how you came here," Iymrith said, still smugly, "but it matters not. I am time energy given sentience. Prepare to die!" It reached forth with one of its talons that was shimmering with energy... and at the same time Helen brought forth the time anomaly manifestation device and pressed a sequence of buttons.

Iymrith screamed, even as its body seemed to shimmer and glow with the same chromatically white light of an ordinary time anomaly. Its cry was louder than an exploding grenade – Danny reeled back, almost stunned, but Helen grabbed him, grabbed the raptor with her other hand, and jumped, pulling them forwards as well. Naturally, Danny expected for them to smash straight into Iymrith and bring it down (and then what? Kick it to death?), but instead they passed right through it, as if it was just an ordinary time anomaly...

And a strange new sight did greet Danny Quinn next.

_To be continued..._


	5. Saving Jenny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: almost none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures

May 29, 2009 A.D.

Rain was falling. It was sliding off the leaves of trees, down into the ground, which swelled and darkened as more and more water fertilized and moistened its former dryness, making it rich and fat, to a point of bursting.

The ground burst. Long, twisting things that could've been snakes and could've been tentacles, burst from it, reaching out, enveloping their victims like a swarm of-

And then Jenny woke up, trying to escape her nightmare – but in vain, for it seemed to have followed her to the waking world in a shape of a _thing_ that was green and grey and scaly and leathery and smiling at Jenny with a mouth that had just too many teeth.

"Hello," the thing spoke in a voice that made Jenny want almost, but not quite, to hit it. "I am Iymrith. And you are Jennifer Lewis."

"Jenny, please," Jenny replies, as she carefully sidles down the other side of her bed. "And more importantly, why are you here? Were you made by Helen?"

"No," the creature said calmly. "I was not. Connor Temple did, though he knows it not – and he never will, for I am about to touch you."

"But we've just met!" Jenny protested, as a small – or not so small – part of her brain marvelled at the absurdity of the situation. "Can't we at least have a date?"

"I'm not touching you thusly, I have no interest in mating with a mammal," Iymrith replies, smiling that inane little smile that has altogether too many teeth. "But you are going to bring new life all the same, in a flood of moisture and dampness and rot, and it will cleanse the world of your mammalian plague."

Jenny blinked. "This sounds... overly dramatic. You sure that you thought this through? And I'm not even starting to ask how exactly this involves me directly."

"Oh, you're about to see how," Iymrith's facial expression didn't change one bit as he or she reached out with her talons. "Good-bye, Jennifer Lewis."

The sound of a revolver firing sounded like a thunder of Jove as it struck Iymrith's forelimb, causing it to jerk away. More shots were fired – roughly half a dozen in all, and Iymrith staggered back, seemingly hurt, but clearly both alive and unbleeding.

"Jenny, you okay?" Never before (okay, there was one such event) was Danny Quinn's voice so pleasant to hear.

"Yes," Jenny nodded, "for now. You arrived just in time."

"And it will change nothing!" Iymrith has stopped staggering and straightened up, the bullets clearly having only made him or her angry. "I am energy in the flesh, energy with sentience – I can't be killed. But you will still die, and he will die second."

"Maybe," the answer came from Helen Cutter, of all people, who stood next to Danny, behind Jenny. "But not today, Iymrith!"

There was a momentary pause, and then Iymrith's body seemed to start transform into a humanoid-shaped time anomaly. Before Jenny could think about this state of affairs, however, two pairs of hands grabbed and thrust her forwards. There was a flash of chromatically white light...and then Jenny didn't remember anything else for a while.

Time and Place unknown

The consciousness returned slowly to Jenny Lewis. First the many small bright spots become into a single one, of a darker hue, and then that spot broke into two, and there was light: Jenny opened her eyes.

"Jenny, are you okay?" Danny Quinn's big, honest, concerned face appeared in her point of view.

"Try something easier," Jenny muttered crossly. "I feel weird."

"That's because we had to purge you," Helen's voice (and face) was far less welcome than Danny's... but not as much as it would've several months ago. "Connor Temple's strategy of killing the grey death with cold was sound, but they've underestimated the fungus' tenacity. Just enough of it had survived inside of you to influence your decisions and actions for quite a while."

"Helen means," Danny explained to Jenny, that had been stunned into silence, "that your actions-"

"-were influenced by the fungus, I got it," Jenny said flatly. Her first excitement over seeing Danny was fading, and old resentment was returning to the front. "What about you? Your actions were also influenced by the fungus?"

"Excuse me?" Danny blinked.

"It's been months since I left, and for all of your speeches about teams and teamwork, none of you have ever called me, not once! Why?" Jenny said, bitterly.

"Well, we were busy," Danny said sheepishly. "Between Helen here, and Christine Johnson there, and Connor moving in with Lester, we just didn't have time-" the excuses sounded rather shallow to his ears, and from the look on Jenny's face, she thought so too.

"...Maybe," was all that Jenny finally said. "But one little phone call – was that so much to ask?"

"No, it wasn't," Danny finally admitted, "I'm sorry. When we get the whole Iymrith mess sorted out-"

"Ah yes, about that," Jenny said slowly. "What is she?"

"Iymrith's an it, a hermaphrodite," Danny sighed. "At least that's how it describes itself. As for what it is...well, somehow clues indicate that Connor and some sort of a dinosaur – spinosaurus – might've been involved."

"And, possibly also one of my missing time anomaly manifestation devices," Helen spoke from her position. "In fact, considering how intent Iymrith is on harping how it is energy, this is probably so."

"It's rude to interrupt," Jenny whirled towards the other woman. "Lester really should-" she fell silent as she took stock of their surroundings, which were mostly decisively not the Center, but something similar, though more plain. "That's not the ARC."

"No," Helen said simply. "It's my home."

"Nice," Jenny drawled out as she surveyed the big building with various pieces of equipment (located in distinctively marked zones) and several paintings – or drawings – on the wall. "Reminds me a bit of the ARC, with the raptor... wait. Why is there a raptor?"

"Oh, it's Danny. It followed him from the Cretaceous, and Danny's taking it to the ARC when we're all done," Helen explained helpfully as the dinosaur trotted over and took a sniff at Jenny.

"I see," Jenny blinked as the raptor continued to sniff at her. "No, wait, I don't. Danny, why are you so cool about us being here?"

"Because Helen's suicidal, not murderous," Danny said plainly. "She wants to die, but she wants to stop Iymrith first."

There was a pause. "And now, a long version please," Jenny said slowly.

"Helen's anti-social and suicidal," Danny explained helpful, "but she is redeemable, otherwise she probably would've joined with Iymrith, and fed me to it – or to the raptor – back in Africa. But she didn't, and, well, she helped me save you."

"And that makes it all better?" Jenny's voice was bitterness itself. "She killed Nick, Danny! This cannot be forgotten."

"Yes, I have, and no, it can't," Helen said quietly. "At night, I tend to see their faces – Nick and Stephen's. I loved them both – and I killed them both. No, I cannot be forgiven-"

"You forgot to add Christine Johnson to that list," Danny said, as Jenny fell silent, realizing that if she and Helen were agreeing on something, then something was really wrong here. "Don't you see her face? The latter might've been a rather unpleasant piece of work in her own right, but-"

"Oh, I didn't kill her," Helen spoke up. "I just put her into a state of timeless suspension in the room over there," she pointed to a closed door. "Also, I admit, I had her cloned."

"...Let me guess," Danny said after a pause, "it was a clone of hers that got eaten by the future predator?"

"One of them," Helen shrugged. "What can I say? The way I'm going, I know that if afterlife exists, she and I will probably run into each other, and I would rather delay that moment for as long I can. The possibility of running into Leek there is stomach-turning enough."

"Hey, running into Leek here was stomach-turning enough," Jenny said, almost jokingly. "But seriously, have you thought of taking therapy?"

Helen stared at her. So did Danny, actually. "I mean it," Jenny continued. "If we get back, manage to deal with that thing – Iymrith – or whatever its' name is, and bring back Christine Johnson back – what?"

"If Christine Johnson gets back, then there'll be a chance that it all will come back," Helen said dejectedly. "Danny, you remember the future?"

"Yes," Danny said carefully. "What of it?"

"It's Christine Johnson's future," Helen said plainly. "Look, believe it or not, but the future will come via a bottleneck, with only two possible outcomes – Johnson's or Lester's. You've seen Johnson's future, no?"

"And Lester's?" Danny asked, quietly.

"Orwell's 1984," Helen said firmly, "but humanity has involved space travel which will take them beyond the reaches of our solar system. When your choices are limited to two, they can be easy."

"And when taking Christine out of the time stream failed, apparently, you decided to destroy her ancestors, _not_ the whole humanity's," Danny said quietly. "Helen, you cannot play God-"

"I know that," Helen spoke violently, "I know. I was unable to save Stephen, or do anything that really counts, remember? I know my limits and try to work within them to the best of my ability."

"And it is within them to seek recovery," Jenny said slowly. "Helen, you cannot live like this, it's clear even to your own subconscious. Killing Nick - and Stephen – will not be forgotten, but it can be forgiven."

Helen opened her mouth, closed and opened it again. "Aren't we getting too far ahead of ourselves? We still have to stop Iymrith, you know?"

"Using the time anomaly manifester to use it as, well, a time anomaly clearly hurts it," Danny said slowly. "Maybe we can use something else, but similar, upon it instead?"

"Yes," Helen nodded slowly. "Precisely."

"You have a plan, don't you?" Jenny said slowly.

"A theory," Helen said quietly, "which we're going to put into practice. Oh, and I'm going to piss Lester off, therapy or no, and I'm not talking about the return of Christine Johnson."

"Fine," the other two people exchanged looks. "Let's hear it."

Helen nodded and began to talk.

_To be continued..._


	6. Battle in the ARC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Almost none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures.

January 22, 2011 A.D. (present day)

The day dawned on an undetermined note: the sun _was_ shining, but the horizon appeared to be somehow murky and promising in regards of wore weather to come. "And how are we today?" Jess Parker chirped cheerfully as she pulled her breakfast from the microwave.

"The same as usual," Abby nodded neutrally, as she and Connor joined their host at the breakfast table. "Thanks for asking."

It's been two weeks now since Abby and Connor had to move-in with Jess (their old flat had been repossessed by the government a long time ago), and they still couldn't make-up their mind about her, their gratitude for her kind offer notwithstanding. Sure, on the other hand Jess tended to pump them on information about Becker, but after a year of hearing just each other's voices (the calls of raptors and other dinosaurs just didn't count), Jess's babbling was actually a pleasant switch in scenery... but for Abby, there was a catch. Sure, Jess was more than willing to carry a conversation on her own, but as she did, Abby, at least, began to realize that on certain level, they have missed _a lot_ during the year, especially on a social level.

To make things more confusing, Connor didn't. Begin to realize what he had missed, that is, not really. Never being an overly social person (outside of the ARC, of course), he just didn't realize how much did they miss... or perhaps he didn't care. Well, neither did Abby (not the extent that Jess was carrying on, at any rate), not really...only she had, somehow...

"So, what's up for today?" Connor finally spoke.

"I don't know," Jess admitted. "My social calendar isn't as full as it once was before the ARC, you know?"

Connor opened his mouth, caught the look of Abby, and closed it.

"Anyways," Jess continued, seemingly oblivious to the silent interchange between the other two, it looks like it might be snowing later today, so we ought to get moving earlier than the usual. Any disagreements?"

"No," Abby shook her head, feeling the indescribable difference between them and Jess keener than ever. "Let's go."

As Jess drove them to the ARC, Abby's already rather bad mood just turned worse. As Jess took to change her outfits (and yes, for someone in a rush she did take her time with them and her make-up), she confronted Connor about his rudeness...and they had a fight. And unlike the fights they did have in the Cretaceous, they couldn't just make up on this one with a lot of gratuitous sex (well, they could, but it just didn't seem appropriate to do it right under Jess's nose, it just didn't). Consequently, the two of them just rode to the ARC (Jess was driving – the two of them still hadn't had their driving licenses renewed) in a silence that was uncomfortable for the first time in their lives, and they didn't like it.

And then, as they rode into the ARC's driveway, something happened – a miracle. "Guys!" Jess said, as she abruptly stopped the car. "Is that a dinosaur?"

Both Abby and Connor got out of the car and stared. "Yes, it is," Abby finally spoke in a strangled voice. "But more importantly – that's Danny! And Jenny? And yes, a raptor."

"Danny, hi!" Connor yelled loudly, truly smiling for the first time since they came back. "Jenny – long time no see! Hi!"

"Hey, Abby, Connor. Who's your friend?" Danny said cheerfully, as Jenny sort of gave them a tentative little wave.

"Oh, hello. I'm Jess, one of the new people," the other woman spoke more tentatively than the usual. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Quinn. Who's your other friend?"

"I don't know. He followed me to Africa and onwards. I think I'm going to keep him," Danny said, nonchalantly. "Hopefully, he won't try to eat Dragon – what do you think, Abby?"

"Honestly? It could probably go either way, especially if the fight goes on one on one," Abby said, almost smirking. "We've seen such hard-headed dinosaurs as Dragon in the Cretaceous – they can take care of themselves, even against raptors."

"Yes, well, anyways now that _that_ is settled," Jenny spoke up for the first time, "can we get inside and say hello to Becker and Lester, or do we need security clearance?"

"For the two of you? No," Jess said cheerfully, looking with some curiosity at Jenny. "I'm sure that Mr. Lester will be happy to see you two. I got to admit," she nodded towards Jenny, "that I imagined you to be somewhat different."

"Yes, well, I changed somewhat since I was last time here," Jenny shrugged. "Sorry, if I've disappointed you-"

"Not at all," Jess said, as she cast a tentative look at the cityscape's horizon – now it was obvious that a snowstorm was approaching. "Come on in, it'll be fine."

As the five people (and one raptor) entered the latest version of the ARC building, no one noticed the soft blinking red light that came from Jenny's purse.

James Lester was having his favourite kind of day – slow, boring and no anomaly-related emergencies, a perfect day to drink his coffee, read his newspaper, and maybe, even, to visit his mammoth and to share with him the latest news, when his secretary called him via the intercom. "Sir? Danny Quinn and Jenny Lewis have just entered the building with the others. I thought you should know."

Suddenly, Lester's kind of day stopped being boring or slow, and the civil servant rather quickly got up and walked outside of his office. He remembered that after the incident with the futuristic fungus creature Jenny Lewis had dropped the radar rather quickly.

Feeling rather disturbed and uncomfortable for some reason, Lester got up and out to meet the visitors personally.

"And that's how the Center looks, in its latest edition," Jess finished with a flair, worthy of a professional tour guide. "So, what do you think?"

"Very professional," Jenny nodded solemnly. "I see that Hesperus'™ logo is almost everywhere, though. I never would've guessed Philip Burton got such a lot of pull."

"I know, it's weird," Jess agreed. "Personally, I think that the minister is using Mr. Burton to piss off Mr. Lester-"

"Who is still your boss, still signs your pay checks and still demands some respect that you won't give," Lester swooped in. "Danny, glad to have you back. Jenny – likewise. And you," he turned to raptor, "you're new."

"Yup," Danny nodded. "Figured if you got your mammoth and Abby and Connor got their mini-zoo, I could afford a raptor."

"Yes, well, it's not that easy," Lester said, looking almost sheepish for a change. "This is a joint venture nowadays, and Philip isn't as free-handed with re-employing former employees as I am. Ms. Lewis, of course, might have an easier time – he understands the value of good PR as well as the next man-"

"I've been gone for a better part of year and you haven't hired my replacement?" Jenny said unexpectedly archly.

"Um, it has been a hectic time?" Lester said, a bit weakly for him.

"Of course it was – Danny explained it to me," Jenny said quietly, "when I asked why you haven't called. Still, hiring a new PR agent would've been rather high on your priority list, I think?"

"Yes, well, you're irreplaceable?" Lester said weakly as everyone else looked practically everywhere else but at Jenny.

"Right. Of course I am," Jenny, apparently, could be just as sarcastic as Lester, when she wanted to. "Glad to hear it. So, anyways, Connor was telling me how he and Abby escaped the dinosaurs?"

" _A_ dinosaur," Connor explained, grateful for the opening. "Spinosaurus, to be precise. I fed him a time anomaly manifestation device that Helen had lost. Clever, hah?"

"I don't know, Connor, futuristic technology isn't something to be used lightly," Danny said slowly, "but what's done is done, and we'll just have to deal with the past in the future. At any rate we're glad to be with you again."

"Likewise," Lester nodded in relief. "Any more questions?"

"Sure, I got one – Peter Pan or Captain Hook?"

There was a pause as everyone shifted to look at the newcomer, and Helen Cutter daintily waved back at them. "Hello, everyone," she said jauntily, as she leaned against Jess's computer controls. "Nice upgrade."

"Helen," Connor growled. "What are you doing here?"

"Celebrating my decision not to wipe-out humanity by trashing the ARC instead?" Helen said cheerfully. "Just joking – I'm here to finish what you've started with that dinosaur."

"There's nothing to finish – I fed it your device, it's over!"

"No, it's not," Helen shook her head, as she pulled out a big, antique-looking bronze watch from her pocket, "not yet. But soon enough either it will be over, or we will be."

"Helen," Lester said flatly, "your rumblings are neither amusing nor entertaining, and after Christine Johnson's demise there's no good will for you here. You're done."

"Ah," Helen smiled widely, showing a whole lot of teeth, "between the restitution I gave to Mr. Burton – I believe he's got the financial muscle here nowadays – and my men, I don't need your good will at the moment. Just for the record, though, I _did_ give your suggesting back in May some thought."

"Not enough, then," Lester said, quieter than before, as Helen's clone army joined their mistress, carrying a number of things – most of them ARC property, including Becker. Who was rather tied up and gagged at the moment, BTW.

"Here," Helen said to Jess, acknowledging her for the first time, even as a couple of clones dropped Becker at the younger brunette's feet. "Try to unwrap him after it's done, please?"

Perhaps for the first time in her life, Jess went silent – and also scarlet as she carefully sat down next to Becker, whose looks suggested a very painful death, not just to Helen, but to anyone else who would comment on his shame.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Danny said quietly.

"You knew I would," Helen grinned, and for a change, that grin was actually genuinely friendly. "Besides, I got to distract them from what my clones were doing, don't I?"

There was a pause as everyone tried to realize just what the clones were doing (setting up pieces of the ARC's technology when the entire building shook, and a gust (to put it lightly) of wind that was cold even for England's mid-winter, came through the corridor.

"And time's up," Helen said quietly. "Iymrith is here."

There was a brief lull in the conversation, and then yet another character appeared on the scene. "That's- that's a dinosauroid!" Connor said, almost delighted.

"My name," the dinosauroid said in a voice that wasn't very friendly, sane or human, "is Iymrith. And you are Connor Temple. You made me. I'll kill you."

There was a pause. "Do I know you?" Connor said carefully.

"Connor, that's the spinosaurus you fed the time anomaly device, isn't it?" Abby said quietly.

"I am. I was. I was a dinosaur. Now I am Iymrith. You're people. You're mammals. You're running the planet. That's _wrong_. My kind should be doing it. Once you're gone, I'll bring them back." The words were delivered perfectly, with a matter-of-fact precision, which made them all the more disturbing.

"Can't we make a deal?" Connor suggested weakly, feeling as if the newcomer was talking to _him_ foremost.

"No," the dinosauroid shook his or her head. "And you," she turned to face Helen, "are dying first."

Instead of replying, Helen just pressed a sequence on her latest time anomaly manifestation device. For a moment, the dinosauroid appeared to be frozen and shimmering, as if it was a time anomaly instead of a living creature, and then three time anomaly sealing devices of Connor slammed into it with a whole lot power than ever before.

The dinosauroid, who seemed to begin to shrug off Helen's initial effects froze, its body now transformed into a humanoid-shaped time anomaly, complete with a manifestation device in the middle – and then a bullet slammed into it, breaking and de-activating the device.

The resulting noise was two-fold: Danny's shot had almost been literally thunderous, but what came next was a squelch, as if something was turning out either inside out or outside in, and then a huge, misshapen dinosaur corpse was lying in the ARC.

"Now," Helen said, noticeably turning towards Jenny Lewis and Danny Quinn, "it is over."

_To be continued..._


	7. Cleaning up after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: almost none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures.

For several moments there was just silence (augmented by the tinkling and the creaking of the broken-down objects – even in death, a spinosaurus was a _big_ animal and took over a lot of space, formerly occupied by other objects that got broken in the process), and it got broken, naturally enough, by Lester.

"What has happened here?" the civil servant asked flatly, clearly not impressed by the plot's development. "Helen, you're behind this?"

"More like in the front," the time traveller shrugged, clearly unimpressed by Lester's logical reasoning. "As for your first question, well, the short version is that Connor fed one of my time travelling devices to a dinosaur, that energy source mutated dinosaur into something else that was hermaphroditic, possibly insane... oh, just think of me with my humanity removed and the ability to travel through time at will."

"That's not true," Jenny said flatly to Lester. "Not really."

"Jenny, please, don't," Lester said flatly. "I'm not quite sure how you got involved, but-"

"It's all in the files, really, and Jenny will explain it to you personally," apparently it was Helen's turn to interrupt Lester...and then Philip Burton joined in, in a matter of speaking.

"Ah, James, glad to see that you're in the thick of things, as always," he said grandly. "Here's your jacket, by the way."

For several moments Lester just looked at the ARC's co-owner, hoping that he would go away, but no such luck, apparently. "Philip – why do I need my jacket?" he finally asked.

"Because the minister has called, and we talked and he wants to talk to both of us in person," Philip said cheerfully, with his trademark good cheer that made Lester really hate him. "And since he's the man in charge – after Her Majesty, of course – we really shouldn't keep him waiting. Mrs. Cutter-"

"Yes?" Helen said, her head cocked rather like that of a raptor that is busy observing a bigger carnivore, a T-Rex or a spinosaurus.

"Thank you for your restitution," Philip replied. "Both I and Matt Anderson – you really ought to meet him one of these days – are very appreciative of them: he of the animal files, and me of the generators."

"Don't mention it, and besides, it was their idea," Helen shrugged, pointing both at Jenny and Danny Quinn. "Sort of a PR action, you might say."

"And a jolly good idea this was!" Philip Burton agreed easily, even as he determinedly tugged Lester on his sleeve. "James, let's go!"

"This isn't over," Lester said firmly, even as he followed Burton out of the ARC.

"Of course not," Helen easily agreed, as she sat down next to Jess. "So, how's the unwrapping going on?" she asked the younger woman.

Becker glared. So did Jess, but with a far lesser intensity. "What?" Helen asked nonchalantly.

"Nothing much," Connor answered instead. "But if you think if you'll be able to suck-up-"

"I never suck up to anybody, you little stooge," both Helen's answer and glare were very intense – surprisingly intense because Helen had never taken Connor seriously before. "And for the moment, Connor Temple, you don't have the moral high ground to talk to me in such a matter, for if Iymrith had been able to get its talons on Jenny, it would've been the end."

"Oh really? How's that?" Connor asked, clearly unbelieving. "Jenny, no offense, but-"

"Connor," Danny spoke for the first time, "here's what have happened while we were away..."

James Lester was in a foul mood – not just because Helen Cutter was back, most likely bringing with her the usual trail of ambiguity and obscurity, not just because Philip Burton was sitting across him in their limo, chattering about something moronic as usual, but because he didn't have all the pieces.

Helen Cutter didn't destroy the humanity – check. At least, Lester didn't think that she did – he didn't feel like he had sprouted any new limbs, tails, scales, feathers or any other body parts recently.

Danny Quinn stopped her (somehow) – check. But how exactly he was able to persuade Helen to stop this dinosaur-thing? (Lester didn't doubt that Connor had mutated the dinosaur – Connor Temple _was_ that kind of a person, actually.)

Finally, there was the fact that implication that Helen Cutter _was_ considering Lester's earlier offer of amnesty – at least partial amnesty – offered to her when she had helped him oust Christine Johnson out of the ARC. Lester didn't doubt that Helen did not do it from the goodness of her heart, but then again, this was Christine Johnson, goodness of one's heart didn't have to do anything with her. But then Helen promptly turned on Christine and on them, so Lester assumed that his offer got thrown out of the window, because it just wasn't compatible with Christine's death.

...Well, if Lester had his way it probably would've been, but somehow he doubted that the minister would see it that way.

The minister, of course, was quite tricky himself – Lester was aware that the man had been playing him and Johnson against each other for a long time, but he didn't expect the man to turn on him when he failed to save Johnson and diminish his influence in favour of Burton. This did not sit well with Lester, not at all, his loyalty to the Crown aside.

And now – this summons. Right when Danny returned with Helen Cutter ( _and_ Jenny Lewis – Lester had to admit that they _had_ neglected her, especially in light of their former friendship). What was going on?

...As Lester mused about the mysteries of his life, the limo stopped, and he – alongside Burton – made his way to the minister's residence. There was another visitor already as well, and she was very, very familiar.

"Hello, James. Hello again, Philip," Christine Johnson smiled her trademark smile. "I'm back."

Lester sat down heavily on the nearest lawn chair as he realized (under Burton's rather bemused gaze) that his life just rather got worse.

End


End file.
